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Collections Advisor is a free monthly email that includes tips on how to improve collections care, information about collections care advocacy and case studies of collections care successes in Hoosier cultural organizations.
Subscribe to Collections Advisor
For questions, please email collectionsadvisor@indianahistory.org.
Past issues, arranged alphabetically by topic:
Special Edition Minivisors (Produced during the COVID-19 Crisis)
- Cleaning the Museum
- Collecting COVID-19
- Collections Management Policy
- Create a Walk-Through Checklist
- Creating Items for Collections Storage
- Evaluating Deaccession Policies and Procedures
- Making a Case for Support
- Reevaluating Your Emergency Plan
- Resource Round Up
- Reviewing Museum Plans and Policies
- Reviewing Procedures, Paperwork and Forms
- Setting Standards for Collections Work
Access
- Collections as Accessibility Assets
- Conservator’s Holiday: A Volunteer Program
- Dissecting Digitization: Part I
- Dissecting Digitization: Part II
- Dissecting Digitization: Part III
- Engaging the Community through Collections Stewardship
- Helpful Online Resources: Part I
- Helpful Online Resources: Part II
- Hunting for Collection Information
- Indigenous Belongings in Museum Collections
- It’s Picture Time! – Photographing Collections Objects
- Making Your Online Collections Accessible
- Photo Digitization
- Promoting Awareness: Getting the Work Done and Getting the Word Out
- Promoting Awareness: Getting Out of the Building and Into the Community
- Social Tagging and Museum Collections
- So Someone Wants a Copy of a Digital Image
- Transfixed Teenagers! Connecting Teens to Collections
- “Using” Museum Objects
- Why Can’t We..
Collections Processing
- Accept or Decline: Making Collections Decisions
- Adding to the Collection: It’s a Process
- Barrier Layers: B-72 or B-67…What’s the Difference?
- Basic Cataloging Tips
- Collection Inventory Basics
- Collections Assessments Made Manageable
- Collections Assessments Made Manageable: Intermediate Plans
- Collections Assessments Made Manageable: Long Range Goals
- Components of a Collections Management Policy
- Cooking Up Database Standards
- Creating a Collections Manual
- Everything in its Place: Defining Database Fields
- Firearms Safety in Collections
- Labeling Objects
- Numbering Systems: How Many Are Too Many?
- Off the Shelf: Pair o’ Docs
- Organization is Key
- Reproductions, Replicas and Forgeries in Museum Collections
- Temporary Receipt vs Deed of Gift
- What About Collections Committees?
- What’s Inside? Unpacking Boxes of Collections Donations
- Working with Auction Houses
Exhibits and Interpretation
- Changing Seasons, Changing Objects
- Collecting Difficult History
- Effective use of Awkward Wall Space
- Fun with Fossshape!
- Give it a Rest: Thoughts on Exhibiting Light-sensitive Objects
- Moving Forward: Grappling with the Present and Navigating the Future
- One Object, Many Stories
- On the Road with T.C. Steele: Transporting Works of Art
- Protecting Collections During Exhibition
- Rethinking Collections
Facilities
- Creating a New Museum Space
- Drying Out Basements in Historic Buildings
- Keeping Cool as the Temperature Rises
- Managing Water Risks in Collection Areas
- Taking Care of Your Building: The First Line of Defense for Your Collections
Funding
- An Outline for Writing a Grant for Collections Funding
- Are Collections an Asset?
- Budgeting for Collections
- Collections Funds
- Don’t Be Afraid to Try: Going After Grants for Collections Storage
- Five Tips for Collections Care Grant Proposals
- Fundraising for Collections Care
- Leveraging a Conservation Assessment Program Grant
- Strategic Fundraising for Collections Care
- Strategic Fundraising for Collections Care Begins with a Plan
- What is a Case Statement, and Why Should We Write One?
Policies and Procedures
- Accept or Decline: Making Collections Decisions
- Adding to the Collection: It’s a Process
- A Year in Review
- Changes to Indiana’s Museum Property Law
- Choosing Objects for the Restored Thiebauld House
- Codes of Ethics for Museums
- Grave Memorials and Burial Items in Museum Collections
- Implementing Indiana’s Museum Property Law
- Indiana’s Property Law in Brief
- Insuring Your Collection
- Integrating Collections Into Your Strategic Plan
- Loaning Museum Objects
- New Readings for the New Year
- New Year’s Resolutions for the Museum
- Nothing About Us, Without Us
- Questions to answer before saying “YES!”
- So Someone Wants a Copy of a Digital Image
- So You Would Like to Make a Donation?
- Starting an Institutional Archive
- Stewardship of Collections Case Study
Preservation and Conservation
- A Few of My Favorite Things – Collection Care Tips and Tricks
- All Those Newspapers
- April Showers Bring May Flowers – Caring for Floral and Fauna Collections
- Back to Basics
- Basics of a Disaster/Emergency Kit
- Caring for Books
- Caring for Jewelry
- Caring for Wooden Furniture
- Collection Horror Stories
- Condition Issues: Structural vs. Cosmetic
- Deterioration: Environmental versus Inherent Vice
- Disaster and Emergency Preparedness: What do you do when disaster strikes?
- Disaster Dangers: Eight to Mitigate
- Drying Out Basements in Historic Buildings
- Encapsulation vs Lamination
- Firearms Safety in Collections
- Fur and Feathers in Costume Collections
- Hoosier Heritage Alliance Connecting to Collections Survey Report
- How to Humidify and Flatten Folded Documents
- Integrated Pest Management for Collections
- Is That … Mold?
- Keeping Collections Safe and Healthy During a Pandemic
- Object Handling Guidelines
- Plastic – Part of American Life for More than 150 Years
- Quick Tips for Collections Care (April Fools!)
- Show Your Collection Some Love: Working With Conservators
- Spring Cleaning Arsenal
- Spring is in the Air
- Surface Cleaning Documents
- Taxidermy and Arsenic
- The Care, Display and Storage of Paintings in Museums and Historic Homes
- The Weather Challenge
- Tips for your Historic Costume Collection
- Tips on Caring for Documents and Photographs
- Tis the Season for Cold Weather, Holiday Parties and…Pests?
- Treating Musty Books at the Yellow Trail Museum
- What is a Conservator?
- What’s in Your Heritage Closet?
Storage
- A Collection of….Food?
- Collections Storage Asbestos Abatement
- Firearms Safety in Collections
- Housing Photographic Collections
- Making a Collections Move
- Object Storage: Tips from the Minnetrista Heritage Collection Basic Collections Care Guide
- Planning Collections Storage and Research Spaces
- Planning for Collections Storage Cabinetry
- Round Collections, Square Boxes
- Storing the Holidays
- Tales From the Storage Vault
- Winter at Conner Prairie
Other Tips
- Celebrating 100 Issues Tips
- Celebrating 100 Issues Tips, Part 2
- Curl up with a Good Book
- Online Collection Resources
- Twelve Days of Collections
This free electronic newsletter arrives in your inbox every Friday filled with lots of exciting news for local history organizations and anyone involved in local history. Find out about exhibits, programs, resources and opportunities around the state and beyond.
Subscribe to Communique Online
For questions or to submit articles for publication, please email col@indianahistory.org.
Recent editions:
Find a dynamic speaker or performer for your organization’s next special program or annual meeting.
At your next event, would you like to meet Abraham Lincoln or learn about Hoosier women’s roles? From the African Methodist Episcopal church to the Wabash and Erie Canal, discover performers, lecturers and first-person interpreters who share local and national history.
The Indiana Historical Society Speakers Bureau is provided as a service to groups and organizations throughout Indiana seeking program topics with a historical flavor. The database allows you to search by keyword, presentation type, even fee.
Contact speakers directly for availability and questions. Financial and travel arrangements can and should be discussed at the time of contact. In many cases, both the speaker’s fees and travel expenses are negotiable.
SEARCH TIPS: Click “Keyword Search” and enter “SB*” into the search box to see all of the listings.
To narrow your search, click “Advanced Search” and enter “Presentation” into the Object Type field, and then add a keyword or topic into the Summary field.
To specifically find free programs type “none” into the Fee field.
Interested in being added to the list as a speaker? Fill out the Speaker Listing Form.
Need to be removed from the list? Let us know by emailing localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.
The Lending Resource Center provides program and technical resources to organizations and individuals who collect, preserve, research and/or interpret Indiana’s history.
Do you need help running your historical society, museum, preservation group, library, archive or genealogical group? We offer a substantial lending library of reference and how-to materials. We also offer sample job descriptions, policies and other documents.
Topics include archives management, board development, conservation, disaster planning, evaluation, fundraising, museum operations and much more.
The normal lending period is four weeks, but extensions may be granted if there are no pending requests. There are no limitations on the number of times requests may be made. Up to four publications may be borrowed at a time. There is no charge for borrowing items, however you are required to pay return postage. You are financially responsible for lost or damaged items.
To arrange a loan, request an extension or suggest materials to add to our lending library, e-mail us at localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org or call (317) 233-3110. When ordering, please provide the titles and authors (if known), your name, phone number, mailing address and the historical organization that you represent.
Technical Leaflets Available for Download
Professional Standards have been established for the fields of history and museums to ensure best practices, professional conduct and characteristics of excellence. The links below offer guidelines and resources for meeting these standards.
Archives
- Society of American Archivists – Standards Portal
Collections
- American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works – Codes of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice and Caring for Your Treasures: Guides for Taking Care of Your Personal Heritage
- National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior – Museum Handbook, Part I: Museum Collections
Digitization
- Institute for Museum and Library Services/National Information Standards Organization –A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections
Genealogy
- National Genealogical Society – Guidelines for Sound Genealogical Research
- Board for Certification of Genealogists – Ethics and Standards
Historical Societies and Museums
- American Association for State and Local History – Standards and Excellence Program (StEPs)
- American Alliance of Museums – Code of Ethics
- American Alliance of Museums – Characteristics of Excellence for U.S. Museums
Historic Preservation
- National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior – Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation
History Scholarship
- American Historical Association – Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct
Oral History
- Oral History Association – Principles and Best Practices
Volunteer Programs
- American Association for Museum Volunteers – Standards and Best Practices for Museum Volunteer Programs
I.M. Hero, an enthusiastic volunteer, begins his first day at the museum and realizes that it is under attack by Deteriora and her evil agents. Will the hero save the museum? How will he defeat the Agents of Destruction? Who will help him? Find the answers to these and other questions in Deteriora and the Agents of Destruction.
Deteriora and the Agents of Destruction is part of the Connecting to Collections initiative and is supported in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The project was developed in partnership with the Civic Theater of Greater Lafayette (Indiana) and the Purdue
University Galleries which received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts for a series of Living Graphic Novel projects.
Chapter 1 Emperor Apathy summons Deteriora and the Agents of Destruction…
Chapter 2 The Obfuscator distracts with his evil magic!
Chapter 3 Ultra Violet shines through?
Chapter 4 Mass O’Frass really starts to bug our heroes!!!
Chapter 5 The Dust Bunny HOPS to his task.
Chapter 6 Miss Handler and Miss Appropriate make a public appearance…
Chapter 7 The Final Battle!
Chapter 8 Collections care resources and the making of “Deteriora and the Agents of Destruction”
Local History Services
